Vulcan

Vulcan is a Petawatt (1015 Watts) laser facility available to the UK and international research community. This unique facility delivers a focused beam – which for 1 picosecond (0.000000000001 seconds) is 10,000 times more powerful than the National Grid – to support a wide-ranging programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications. These pages contain information about the laser and the experimental areas it supports.

Vulcan laser facility

The scientific areas that are explored using the Vulcan facility include:

Interaction of super-high intensity light with matter

Physics of fusion energy research

Photo-induced nuclear reactions

Electron and ion acceleration by light waves

Astrophysics in the laboratory

Exploration of the exotic world of plasma physics dominated by relativity